“For Israel this war against Iran is a fight for survival. To stop its annihilation. To stop another Holocaust,” the Jewish leader said in his video statement.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein has lambasted the government for defending Iran and downplaying threats to Israel — part of what the country’s Jewish community has long denounced as an increasingly hostile stance toward the Jewish state.

“It’s disgraceful … but, not unexpected, that the South African government came to Iran’s defense, stating there was no imminent threat to Israel or the West from Iran,” Goldstein said in a video posted on X on Monday.

“Iran fights back by launching missiles at Israel’s civilian centers, condemnation for which is, as expected, muted in the international media and community of nations,” the Jewish leader continued.

Last week, Israel launched a broad preemptive attack on Iran, targeting military installations and nuclear sites across the country in what officials described as an effort to neutralize an imminent nuclear threat.

The ongoing Israeli strikes killed several of Iran’s top military commanders and nuclear scientists and dealt a major blow to the country’s retaliatory capabilities, destroying not only much of its ballistic missile stockpiles but also crippling its launch platforms.

On Friday, South African authorities expressed “profound concern” over Israel’s military campaign against Iran and extended their “sincere condolences to the Iranian government and the families of all victims.”

“These actions raise serious concerns under international law, including the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the protection of civilians enshrined in the UN Charter and international humanitarian law,” Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, said in a statement.

“We reiterate our unwavering commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes. South Africa urges maximum restraint by all parties and calls for the urgent intensification of diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and promote stability in the Middle East,” Phiri continued.

In his video posted to social media, Goldstein said there is ample evidence that Iran was just weeks away from acquiring nuclear weapons, noting that the Israeli strike came on day 62 of the 60-day window US President Donald Trump had given Tehran to reach a nuclear deal.

“Israel’s strike on Iran was a 1-minute-to midnight action to head off the annihilation of the Jewish state, and prevent another Holocaust,” Goldstein said.

After five rounds of talks between the US and Iran, diplomatic efforts stalled as the two adversaries clashed over Tehran’s insistence on maintaining its domestic uranium enrichment program — a demand that Trump had publicly rejected.

“For Israel this war against Iran is a fight for survival. To stop its annihilation. To stop another Holocaust,” the Jewish leader said in his video statement.

“Had Iran been able to develop a nuclear bomb and announce it via a successful test, it would have been too late to launch a preemptive strike. The stakes would have been too high, and Iran would have gained the leverage to completely shift the balance of power, both in the Middle East and globally,” Goldstein continued.

Iranian leaders regularly declare their intention of destroying Israel and have for decades supplied internationally designated terrorist groups, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, with weapons and funding to attack the Jewish state.

Nonetheless, South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe said earlier this year that his country would consider partnering with Iran for expanding its civilian nuclear power capacity.

Amid the ongoing diplomatic deadlock between Tehran and Washington, Israel had previously declared it would never allow the Islamist regime to acquire nuclear weapons, as the country views Iran’s nuclear program — which Tehran insists is solely for civilian purposes — as an existential threat.

“Everyone knows that Iran must be disarmed but none has Israel’s courage to do what must be done,” Goldstein said. “But if they won’t help, they should at least express their gratitude to the brave government, soldiers, pilots, and people of Israel for what they are doing to make this world safe.”

Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the South African government has been one of the most vocal critics of the Jewish state on the international stage, repeatedly targeting Jerusalem through diplomatic actions.

Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza.

The post South African chief rabbi slams government’s support for Iran as Middle East conflict escalates appeared first on World Israel News.

The task force will deliver its findings and recommendations in a forthcoming report, with the goal of making actionable recommendations to safeguard Jewish community spaces.

By The Algemeiner

South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein has invited a counterterrorism task force to his country to assist with the investigation into a recent attempted bombing of a Jewish community center in Cape Town and to make recommendations to protect places of worship, schools, and community centers amid a steep rise in antisemitism.

The move, announced this week in both a YouTube video and social media post, came about a month after the local Cape Town branch of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), the umbrella group of the country’s Jewish community, said that an “improvised explosive device” had been thrown over the front wall into the community center and “failed to detonate.”

No one was hurt and no damage was caused in the incident. The facility, located in the neighborhood of Gardens, reportedly contains offices for many Jewish community organizations, including a women’s group, a youth movement, and a Jewish newspaper, among others.

The incident occurred on the same day that arsonists heavily damaged a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, in what both law enforcement and political leaders called an antisemitic attack.

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis confirmed at the time that city police were helping the South African Police Service (SAPS) investigate the matter and analyze closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage to find the perpetrator.

He added that the case has been handed to South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks.

Now an international task force will be assisting the investigation and more broadly assessing the terrorist threat in South Africa, with the added goal of helping Jewish communities in other countries combat similar threats facing them.

“There have been a host of similar terror attacks against Jewish communities worldwide. Out of an abundance of caution, and with the heavy responsibility of my office, I have invited a counter terrorism task force to assist the investigation into the attack in Cape Town, as part of this global trend,” Goldstein said in a statement.

“In carrying out its mandate, the task force is also working with the Security Advisory Council of the World Jewish Congress, and is being advised by an expert legal team.”

Goldstein noted that Iran, whose Islamist leaders openly seek Israel’s destruction and are widely regarded by Western governments as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, poses a particular threat to Jewish communities around the world.

“There is a growing terror threat from Iran against Jews worldwide, and the task force’s work in South Africa will assist all diaspora communities,” Goldstein continued.

“I have asked the task force to write a report on their findings, including an assessment of the terror threat here in South Africa within the global context, and to make recommendations for protecting places of worship, schools, and community centers in South Africa and worldwide from the threat of terrorism.”

The task force is led by Andre Pienaar, co-founder of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), known as the Scorpions, an elite law enforcement unit created by President Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

Other task force members include Dean Haydon, former senior national coordinator for counterterrorism in the United Kingdom and former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; Admiral Mike Hewitt, former deputy director for global operations who also served the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the US Defense Department; and Maj. Gen. (Ret.) David Tsur, former commander of the counterterrorism unit in the Israeli Police (Yamam).

“This investigation is about bringing light into our world: to shed light on terror so that it cannot hide in the dark corners of society, to shed light on the threats so that we can counter them, to shed light on evil so that it may be defeated,” Goldstein said.

“By doing this, we make South Africa and the world not just safer for Jews but for all decent people,” he added. “History has shown that a society that is unsafe for Jews is unsafe for civilized values, and is not a place where people can truly thrive and flourish.”

Drawing inspiration from the book of Genesis, Goldstein framed the mission in terms of moral clarity and the pursuit of safety for all people.

“God’s very first act of creation was to say, ‘Let there be light.’ For goodness and human civilization to exist, there must be light — the light of moral clarity to distinguish between good and evil, the light of knowledge, information, and understanding,” he said. “This investigation is about bringing light into our world. To shed light on the darkness of terror so that it cannot hide in the dark corners of society, to shed light on the threats so that we counter them, to shed light on evil so that it may be defeated.”

The task force will deliver its findings and recommendations in a forthcoming report, with the goal of making actionable recommendations to safeguard Jewish community spaces.

Goldstein’s latest move came amid a surge in global antisemitism, with several countries reporting record levels of anti-Jewish hate crimes and other antisemitic incidents since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

The South African Jewish community has repeatedly lambasted President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress (ANC) for insufficiently combating antisemitism and being one of the harshest critics of Israel since the Hamas atrocities of last Oct. 7.

For the past year, the South African government has been pursuing its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against Hamas in Gaza.

In late October, South Africa filed the bulk of the relevant material to support its allegations, a move that the SAJBD slammed as a demonstration of “grandstanding” rather than actual concern for those killed in the Middle Eastern conflict.

South Africa temporarily withdrew its diplomats from Israel and shuttered its embassy in Tel Aviv shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom, saying that the Pretoria government was “extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians” in Gaza.

Then in December 2023, South Africa hosted two Hamas officials who attended a government-sponsored conference in solidarity with the Palestinians. One of the officials had been sanctioned by the US government for his role with the terrorist organization.

This past May, members of South Africa’s Jewish community protested Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor’s call for students and university leaders to intensify the anti-Israel demonstrations that have engulfed college campuses across the US.

Later that month, Ramaphosa led the crowd at an election rally in a chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a genocidal call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Ramaphosa’s ANC has also supported a proposal by the City of Johannesburg to rename the street on which the US Consulate is located after notorious Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled, who hijacked a Tel Aviv-bound plane in 1969 and attempted another hijacking, this time of an El Al flight, in 1970.

The government’s ardent opposition to Israel did not help its performance in elections last year, when the ANC lost its majority in parliament for the first time in South Africa’s post-apartheid democratic history.

However, it still remained the largest party and retained power at the national level through a coalition.

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